Eyman initiative would take away cities’ right to set minimum wage

Professional initiative promoter Tim Eyman has found an angle to get involved in Washington’s debate over the minimum wage, and possibly restore a rupture with business donors who have served as sugar daddies for his past ballot measures.

Eyman has filed an initiative that would take away the right of cities, towns and counties — and their voters — to set minimum wage levels. SeaTac voted for a $15-an-hour minimum wage last November, and Seattle has just enacted a phased in $15-an-hour plan.

In a letter late Thursday, addressed to “our thousands of supporters throughout the state” — but really meant for the media — Eyman was not bashful about the goal of his “Fair and Uniform Minimum Wage Initiative.” He is testing support to put it on the ballot.

“Our goal is to illustrate to small business owners and other concerned citizens a smart, effective initiative proposal that gives everyone in Washington a voice in the economic future of our state,” Eyman wrote.

The proposed initiative reads in part:

“The state of Washington has exclusive authority to establish the minimum wage standard for all employees in the state, and occupies the entire field of regulations of minimum standards for wages for employers for private employees within the boundaries of the state.

“A city, town, county, port district or other municipal corporation . . . may not establish . . . a minimum standard of wages for employees by private employers.”

Washington’s current minimum wage, set at $9.32 an hour, is the result of a labor-backed 1998 ballot initiative. It indexed the minimum wage to inflation, giving the state a base wage level $2.07 an hour higher than the federal minimum wage.

Such trade groups as the Association of Washington Business and Washington Food Industry Association, as well as owners of the state’s oil refineries, have paid thousands of dollars over the past 15 years to put Eyman’s initiatives onto the ballot.

He lost big last year, and alienated past supporters.

Eyman put on the ballot Initiative 517, which would have permitted professional signature gatherers to operate at will inside public buildings. The measure took away store owners’ rights to regulate where initiative petitions could be circulated. It would have enabled petition mercenaries to station themselves immediately outside entrances and exits of businesses.

Business groups opposed Eyman’s initiative. I-517 went down to a landslide defeat, garnering only 37 percent of the vote and losing in 31 of the state’s 39 counties.

Afterward, Washington Food Industry Assn. president/CEO Jan Gee told the Herald of Everett: “We will not be giving Tim money to do an initiative or do a campaign.”

The debacle brought pressure on the Association of Washington Business to sever its longtime ties: The AWB has not only donated to Eyman’s campaigns, but has served as a conduit for industry donations.

Eyman is pushing other measures. He would need to collect 250,000 valid voter signatures by year’s end to put the minimum wage initiative onto the 2015 ballot. The initiative would first go to the Legislature, which could pass it or amend it, or do nothing and sent it to the electorate.

Major Seattle-area business groups worked with Mayor Ed Murray’s committee that helped shape the city’s $15-an-hour plan.

Typically, the Downtown Seattle Association sent a letter in April endorsing a higher minimum wage but urging a “responsible and reasonable approach.” It urged, for instance, that “all reportable income” by factored when determining the minimum wage, a condition largely met in the city’s final plan.

Another group, Forward Seattle, has sprung up in opposition to the city’s plan. On Thursday, it filed a city charter amendment that would phase in a lower, $12.50-an-hour minimum wage over 5 years. It would apply to all businesses, and eliminate protections for small business included in the city’s plan.

It is unclear what will be the major assault on Seattle’s plan, a city ballot initiative fueled by fast food purveyors and big franchise operations, or Eyman’s statewide measure.